18 songs

22 Jul

My friends like to remind me that my taste in music sucks. They tell me this all. the. time. Two friends have even – on multiple occasions – threatened bodily harm if I didn’t turn off my music or switch to something more their style. In other words words, switch to something good.

I don’t take offense to it, though. Actually, I like my music. I’m certainly not worldly when it comes to music, so I can’t really judge. And while there are times when I even find myself questioning some of musical selections, I know what I like. So scoff if you will – I’m not switching stations.

Here is today’s list:
18 random* songs currently on my iPhone:

Note: Justin Bieber is most certainly NOT on the list… I’m not actually sure who he is, but his emo hair irks the shit out of me, and I kinda want to punch him in the face. Anyway, on to the list…

Van Morrison, Wonderful Remark (he’s kinda God to me)
The Pixies, Where is My Mind (Pixies = rage. OMG! Love them!)
REM, Electrolite (Michael Stipe is a poet and I love him.)
U2, Numb (this is the perfect song to listen to at maximum volume while driving around Slea Head in Ireland on a foggy day with your best friend. I know because I did it)
Hole, Jennifer’s Body (I love Hole, and essentially everything Courtney Love has ever written/recorded. I actually cried when I heard her sing Reason To Be Beautiful live.)
Paolo Nutini, Candy (I admit to singing this song very loudly when I’m alone driving in my car. I make no apologies.)
Juanes, Es Por Ti (OMG, Juanes = sex. on. a. stick.)
The Ramones, California Sun (The Ramones have been known make me spontaneously break into dance in the middle of my kitchen on more than one occasion… though I wouldn’t actually call it dancing, it’s more like flailing my arms in the air while shaking my bootay)
Amy MacDonald, This is the Life (I had higher hopes for Amy MacDonald when I started listening to her a few years back, but I haven’t heard much from her since then. It’s too bad because she’s really good.)
Bad Religion, Social Suicide (because American Jesus would just be too predictable.)
Prince, Raspberry Beret (Oh how I wish I had a heavy alternative version of this by Sean Panting. I would go to Junctions in St. John’s every night Thursday after work back in ‘the day’ to hear his band, Drive, and EVERY single time I would get them to sing this for me. Then I would usually make out with him. teehee!)
The Band, The Shape I’m In (I really, really love The Band. But then, everyone does, right?)
The Pogues, The Band Played Waltzing Matilda (Funny story: so I’m chilling out in my hotel room in Dublin and I get hit with a total revelation: If póg mo thóin (pogue mahone) means kiss me arse, then given that they were bad asses, and Shane MacGowan was the biggest one of them all, then SURELY The Pogues were in fact The Arseholes. I proceeded to call them The Arseholes for about a week, usually when I was drunkenly being one myself in the company of disgusted irishfolk. It never dawned on me that pogue actually meant kiss. ’cause yeah, I’m all s-m-r-t like that.)
The Grateful Dead, Ripple (deadhead since I was knee-high to a grasshopper. I went into mourning in 1995 when Jerry Garcia died because, yes, I was really that much of a loser. True Story. Ripple is the guiding song of my life.)
This recording of the Gayatri Mantra. I’ve chanted this for years now. I’ve also been known to sleep with this on repeat. Is that weird? (little piece of trivia that I discovered a few years back when the familiar words grabbed my attention as BSG was coming on – it’s used in the the opening theme music. I admit that this fact has lessened my devotion to the mantra, but I still chant it, and I am completely in love with this musical version.)
The Tragically Hip, Another Midnight (Gordon Downie = poet. I effing love him!)
Amelia Curran, The Mistress (I discovered her last year, and honest to gawd, I still can’t get enough of her. If you don’t know who she is you NEED to go give her a listen.)
Hara, Muro Shavo (I admit to not really having any other Hara, but it kinda represents the mishmash of bad euro pop dancy stuff that I hear and love when I’m in the vineyard. Embarrassingly, I have a lot of it…and that might very well be the root of my friends’ complaints.)

*given that iPod shuffle kinda sucks balls in that it selects from a set number of songs, I usually get stuck with a series of random songs by two or 3 artists at a time. If anyone knows how to change that please let me know. In any event, I selected these ‘random’ songs by putting the player on shuffle and hitting forward until I got 16 songs that I felt gave a good representation.